As for the hadith that was narrated by At-Tirmidhiyy:
الراحمون يرحمهم الرحمن ارحموا من في الأرض يرحمكم من في السّماء
[which means] “Those who are merciful, Ar-Rahman is Merciful to them. Be merciful to whoever is on Earth and whoever is in the Sky will be merciful to you.” According to another narration, the hadith is:
يرحمكم أهل السماء
[which means] “…the People of the Sky will be merciful to you.” This narration explains the first narration. That is because the best thing by which the narrated hadith is explained is another narrated hadith, just as said by Hafidh Al-^Iraqiyy in his millennial poem:
وخير ما فسرته بالوارد
[which means] “The best thing by which you have explained a hadith is another narrated hadith.”
Furthermore, what is meant by “The People of the Sky” is the Angels. That was mentioned by Hafidh Al-^Iraqiyy in his dictation sessions after he mentioned this hadith. His exact statement is “By the Prophet’s ﷺ saying, ‘The People of the Sky’, it is proven that what is meant by the Saying of Allah in the verse:
﴿أَأَمِنتُم مَّن فِي السَّمَاءِ﴾
[which means] “Do you feel secure from who is in the sky?” is the Angels.” That is because Allah is not referred to as “The People of the Sky.” The word مَن [man; “who”] is used for the singular and the plural. Therefore, there is no evidence in this verse for that. The same is said about the verse that comes after that verse:
﴿أَمْ أَمِنتُم مَّن فِي السَّمَاءِ أَن يُرْسِلَ عَلَيْكُمْ حَاصِبًا﴾
[which literally means] “Or do you feel secure from who is in the sky from sending stones upon you?” So “man” [who] in this verse is also “The People of the Sky” and not “the one in the sky.” Certainly Allah sends Angels to the blasphemers if He willed to punish them in the present life, just like in the Hereafter; they are the ones appointed with inflicting the punishment on the blasphemers, because they are the caretakers of Hell, and they pull a section of Hell to the place of Judgment so that the blasphemers will be terrified by seeing it.
The expression of that narration narrated by Hafidh Al-^Iraqiyy in his dictation session is:
الراحمون يرحمهم الرحيم ارحموا أهل الأرض يرحمكم أهل السّماء
[which means] “Those who are merciful, Ar-Rahim is Merciful to them. Be merciful to the people of the earth and the people of the sky will be merciful to you.”
Furthermore, had Allah been residing in the sky like some people claimed, He would be crowding the Angels. This is impossible because of the hadith which has been confirmed:
ما في السموات موضع أربع أصابع إلا وفيه ملك قائم أو راكع أو ساجد
[which means] “There is not a four-fingered space in the sky,” and in a narration “a handspan”, “except that it has an angel in the standing position, or the bowing position, or prostration.” Likewise the hadith which is narrated by Al-Bukhariyy and Muslim from the route of Abu Sa^id Al-Khudriyy that the Messenger of Allah said:
ألا تأمنوني وأنا أمين من في السماء يأتيني خبر من في السماء صباح مساء
[which means] “Do you not deem me as trustworthy while I am deemed trustworthy by who is in the sky? The news of who is in the sky comes to me day and night.” What is meant by this is also the Angels, and if Allah is meant by the hadith, then it means the One Who Has a very high Status.
As for the hadith of Zaynab Bint Jahsh, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, that she used to say to the wives of the Messenger, “Your families gave you in marriage, and Allah gave me in marriage from above seven Skies,” it means that the Prophet’s marriage to her was recorded in the Guarded Tablet. So this is a marriage contract that is specific to Zaynab; it is not the ordinary marriage contract. The normal marriage contract is for all of the people, and every marriage that takes place until the end of the world is recorded on the Tablet, which is above the Seven Skies.
As for the hadith, which in it is:
والذي نفسي بيده ما من رجل يدعو امرأته إلى فراشه فتأبى عليه إلا كان الذي في السماء ساخطا عليها…
[which means] “By the One Who Controls my soul, there is no man who calls his wife to his bed and she refuses except that the one who is in the sky would be angry with her,” until the end of the hadith. This is also taken to be in reference to the Angels. The proof for that is the second authentic narration, which is even more famous than the previous one:
لعنتها الملائكة حتى تصبح
[which means] “The Angels will damn her until the dawn.” This hadith was narrated by Ibn Hibban and others.
As for the hadith of Abu-d-Darda’ that the Messenger of Allah said:
ربنا الذي في السماء تقدّس اسْمك
[which means] “O our Lord, the One in the sky, Your Name is Holy,” it is not an authentic hadith; rather, it is weak, as judged by Hafidh Ibnul-Jawziyy. Had it been authentic, then its case would be like what passed in the hadith of the slave girl [i.e., it would mean the One with a high Status and not the one in the sky].
As for the hadith of Jubayr ibn Mut^im, from the Prophet ﷺ:
إنّ الله على عرشه فوق سمواته، وسمواته فوق أراضيه مثل القبة
[which means] “Certainly, Allah is on His ^Arsh above His Skies and His Skies are over His Earths like a dome,” Al-Bukhariyy did not narrate this hadith in his book of sahih, so there is no evidence in it. In its chain of narration is a weak narrator, and what he narrates is not taken as evidence. That was mentioned by Ibnul-Jawziyy and others.
Likewise, Al-Bukhariyy narrated in his book, “Khalq Af^al Al-^Ibad” from the route of Ibn ^Abbas that the Messenger of Allah said:
لما كلم الله موسى كان نداؤه في السماء وكان الله في السماء
[which means] “When Allah Spoke to Musa, His Call was in the sky and Allah was in the sky.” This hadith is not confirmed, so it is not taken as evidence.
As for the saying that is attributed to Imam Malik:
الله في السماء وعلمه في كل مكان لا يخلو منه شىء
[which means] “Allah is in the sky and His Knowledge is everywhere and nothing is devoid of Him,” it is also not confirmed from Malik. It does not have a continuous chain of narration. Abu Dawud did not narrate that from Imam Malik with a sahih chain of narration, instead, he narrated it in his book Al-Masa’il, and the mere narration of something is not a confirmation [of its validity].